Engine Bay Fire Suppression System

oscar "Public service announcement!" PLEASE GET IT FITTED! - We had an engine fire caused by an electrical fault. We were lucky. What Paul Weeding said is what happens with a lot of engine fires, however I was able to get around the back with a fire extinguisher. But had we been a few seconds later we would have been properly screwed. Despite this, it still cost us over £2500 to sort out.

 

Having worked for several years on big electronic systems which have both blown air cooling and integral gas discharge fire extinguisher systems and actually used them to put fires out, IMHO you cannot beat a gas system, it has a small cooling effect and above all bottles are pressurised so even a small 1kg will contain a huge amount of gas with which to block the oxygen from the fire. Importantly, if you realise it anyway you will of course stop and turn off your engine whether moving or not, thereby reducing the possibility of further damage. Also the reality is that you are in the lap of the gods anyway and fire extinguishers don't say on the tin they will definitely stop a fire or damage they just buy you time and possibly may save your life. So i for one would say gas is good and at least if it all goes to plan you might have minimal damage and if not well you tried. Remember its all about risk and reducing it.

 

I've never seen a fire fighter attack a fuel fire or a car fire with gas. There's probably a good reason for that.

 

I would agree with your statement but, you have to consider several more things:

Firstly, the fire services use lots of foam/powder and are not concerned really with the damage to equipment but, with life.
Secondly the latest generation of clean fire extinguisher agents are as good at fighting fires as foam or dry powder because they do cool the fire and eliminate oxygen but, more importantly they chemically react with the components of the fire to suppress it further.
Thirdly, I used them to extinguish fuel fires on engine start up on jet aircraft, they in fact replaced the foam extinguishers once used in favour of reducing the cost of damage caused by a fire and by what was used to put it out.

The only down side is that it does sometimes produce small concentrations of a toxic gas (usually hydrogen fluoride) which means before sticking your head into the engine compartment after the fire is completely out and cool, please ventilate it!

 

this is defiantly a" swings and roundabouts" situation, fact a decent system is What under £200 , nobody now's how or why a fire may or may not start. could be small or large, I think it's worth for going that £200 of bling/ accessories for something that may save your bus and possible occupants. to be honest I would rather have a knackered engine due to the extinguisher working than a burnt out bus...just my opinion..cheers.

 

i have the firetec engine extinguisher just for piece of mind, not necc for the bus but because my nephew may be in the back.
that said, i haven't fitted it yet - another job to do at techenders while there's those in the know around to point and advise.

 

You're nearly good then. Have you read the guide I linked to? You'd have plenty of time to get yourself and your nephew out, but you couldn't be putting out the fire at the same time. That's made me think maybe not such a bad idea after all.

 

am sure it's relatively simple but like to know there's someone around for advice should i need it. my confidence in such things is not great atm (if it can go wrong, it will). i wish i had a shed! it's in the dining room

 

sorry to thread jack, but Zed mentioned that the JK fuel hose was basically Marmitee. And ive just bought a length of it.. haha.

does any one know what fuel hose is suitable and long lasting? and where to get some?

all the negativity surrounding JK's parts is making me paranoid

 

think i've read the guide before - which made me decide to get one as keeping a 2 1/2 year old out of the way and safe would, obviously, be my main priority. Have only driven with him in it with someone else in the back and all grown up passengers know their role in the fire/emergency evacuation drill (risk assessment training comes in very handy )

 

Spit on the fire or throw some ale on it and have a barbie LOL. No really an ordinary halfords extinguiser ill do the trick. Hey is that your engine? its so clean.

 

Coolair sell the correct 5.5mm twin-wall hose that is rated for the current pump petrol!!

Give bigrich a call and he'll sort you out

 

anything is better than nothing!
the main reason for extinguishers is self rescue, not to fire fight if that makes sense
i personally would always use foam, no exceptions,
the main source of the fire is going to be petrol, the best medium for liquid fires is foam, it takes out heat and oxygen and also isolates the fuel. if you have a fuel shut off too that would be handy!
i'm afraid that the fire service probably will force your engine bay open, but whats a hatch if it saves your whole van. any firefighters in the know would smash the rear light cluster and flood the engine bay from there, i know i would.
gas is used on electrics as it doesn't arc and is very clean, some foams and powders can be used on electrics too, but gas is the best as yorkieman says
a firetec with no back up will not get you very far on a well developed fire, i would suggest an additional 9kg extinguisher carried in your bus! and also make sure all of your extinguishers are the same media, powder does not work well with foam, foam does not work well with water!

 

Im lucky and have a local hose supplier - marine grade unleaded £2 a metre.

 

Well all I'll say is I think its just old wives tales engines catching fire for I drove mine twice a day for about 3weeks smelling petrol. I then decided to look and found petrol peeing out the carb I got back in the van and drove 14miles home. I believe that if you expect things to happen they will, I didn't expect it to catch on fire and it didn't.



Disclaimer

I accept no blame if you follow my thinking and your van burns.

 

Have we all got a fuel cutoff valve fitted? Next step after replacing your fuel lines...